Jay Allison, who produces The Moth Radio Hour and founded Transom.org, once said, “In public radio, our signature is story.” He entered radio in the 1970s, from the theater. “I thought, ‘Wait … Read more
Brendan Koerner‘s new book, The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, dropped last week to critical acclaim. It tells the story of a pair of unlikely hijackers (a “troubled … Read more
Pinned this week, for your storytelling pleasure: Inspired: Story trailers. Esquire made not one but two (a 46- and 20-second version) for Chris Jones’ “Animals,” a taut narrative about the Zanesville, Ohio, zoo massacre. Read more
Joan Didion finds herself counting syllables. If this is part of her brilliance, and it is, it’s largely because of who she is as an observer; meticulous but detached, intimate yet removed. These paradoxes are how she draws you in. Read more
The Boston Globe's Kevin Cullen isn't just live-tweeting the trial of one of the country's most notorious mob figures — he's telling a story. This thread picks up with Monday morning testimony and runs through lunch. For more Cullen Twitter coverage, follow him. Read more
Pinned this week week for your storytelling pleasure: Highly recommended: In schools, the complexity in assigned reading is dropping, NPR reports: “A century ago, students were being assigned books with the complexity of around the ninth- or 10th-grade level. Read more
You are a journalist with a story to tell and you want a new way to tell it. The old systems feel flat for what you hope to do. Your tale has narrative depth, with characters and plot twists but … Read more
Sunday’s Washington Post carried the kind of story that can leave you limp for days. Rare anymore is the narrative that has such a visceral effect, but Eli Saslow’s piece about Jackie and Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son … Read more
Pinned this week, for your storytelling pleasure: Interviewland: Wells Tower talked to Bookforum about alternating between the worlds of journalism and fiction. When asked what he makes of longform’s new popularity he said, … Read more
At the recent City & Regional Magazine Association conference in Atlanta, Esquire’s Tom Junod and Texas Monthly’s Pamela Colloff interviewed each other for an audience of narrative lovers. Atlanta magazine’s Tony Rehagen kindly recorded the session exclusively … Read more